An historic church that was badly damaged by fire a year ago will have to be torn down.
But it will not be the end for the Jefferson Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church.
On Christmas day, 2021, the 150-year-old church on the city’s southwest side was gutted in a four-alarm fire.
The initial hope was that the church could be rebuilt, but Communication Director for the church, Angela Tucker-Hill, said that option proved to be more expensive than they expected.
“Unfortunately it did come up to be more expensive than we had anticipated,” noted Tucker-Hill. “So it was just the final decision heart wrenching as it might be to just go ahead and demolish the remains, and relocate to a different property.”
The Jefferson Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church will move to a building on Chili Avenue, formerly occupied by the Parkminster Church.
Tucker-Hill said that to see the Jefferson Avenue church burn was heartbreaking for their members, but they are looking forward now to the future.
”Just to see all of the varying memories to burned in the fire. But thank God, no one was injured. That's the one thing that we are thankful for and how God provides us regardless of how sad and devastating the actual fire on Christmas Day was, we've been able to maintain our worship services,” said Tucker-Hill.
The Jefferson Ave. church has been holding virtual services on a regular basis and they also have a temporary worship space on King Street. They hope to be in their new location next May or June.
The fire-damaged building on Jefferson Avenue will be torn down on Wednesday.
